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Hawaii vs. Army: Game Preview, Kick Time, TV and Radio Schedule
The high-flying Hawaii Warriors hit the road to face the Army Black Knights. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.
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Can Hawaii take down another tough Armed Forces team?
WEEK 3: Hawaii Warriors (3-0, 1-0 Mountain West) vs. Army West Point Black Knights (1-1)
WHEN: Saturday, September 15 — 6:00 AM HT/9:00 AM PT
WHERE: Michie Stadium; West Point, New York (38,000)
TV: CBS Sports Network
STREAMING: FuboTV get a free trial to stream this game
RADIO: The Hawaii broadcast can be found in and around Honolulu on the local ESPN affiliate, 1420 AM.
SERIES RECORD: Hawaii leads the overall series 3-0. In their last meeting on November 30, 2013, the Warriors defeated Army 49-42 in West Point.
WEBSITES: HawaiiAthletics.com, the official Hawaii athletics website | Go ArmyWestPoint.com, the official Army athletics website
GAME NOTES (PDF): Army | Hawaii
There weren’t many people who predicted a 3-0 start for the Hawaii Warriors, but Nick Rolovich’s team has settled into a familiar rhythm that worked yet again in a win over Rice last Saturday: Let the offense lead the way.
It also happened to work in a hard-fought win against the Navy Midshipmen two weeks ago, so this week’s challenge is both familiar and different. The Warriors will travel a long way to face the Black Knights, another ground-based academy squad, and though Hawaii is 1-1 in games within the Eastern Time Zone under Rolovich, the contrast of offensive styles should make this another can’t-miss game.
Here’s what Hawaii can do to keep Army at bay and come home with a victory.
Three Keys to a Hawaii Win
Win the turnover battle.
In Week 1, the Black Knights lost on the road at Duke in part because they finished -1 in turnover margin, losing two fumbles that led to ten points. They also, however, turned their lone takeaway in that game into seven points, and did more of the same by finishing +3 in a 38-14 win against Liberty in Week 2.
Hawaii has taken good care of the football so far, losing just two fumbles in the first three games, and they’ll need more of the same to stay ahead of Army.
Get ahead on early downs.
It may seem fairly obvious, but one of the most telling statistics heading into this game is Success Rate, which is defined as earning 50% of the yards you need on first down, 70% on second down, or 100% on third and fourth down. In each of Hawaii’s three wins, they had a better Success Rate. When Army lost to Duke, they lost the Success Rate battle, but they won it against Liberty.
This is all to say that whoever best stays on schedule will probably have the upper hand as the game progresses. Army has averaged 5.59 yards per carry on first downs through two games, while Hawaii running back Fred Holly III has put up a solid 4.86 YPC and quarterback Cole McDonald has completed 62.2% of his passes at 8.84 yards per attempt.
Test the Army secondary early and often.
They’ve allowed eight plays of more than 20 yards through the air on just 54 pass attempts against them, a rate of 14.8%, and the 9.3 yards per attempt they’ve allowed so far ranks just 117th nationally. For a Hawaii offense that currently ranks 11th in yards per attempt and has earned a 20-yard pass play on 15.1% of its chances (17 of 112), this could be a big mismatch in McDonald’s favor.
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